Annapurna Pictures and Amazon Studios have released the first trailer for Last Flag Flying, the latest film from director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some!!). It is based on the novel of the same name by Darryl Ponsican, who adapted his book alongside Linklater. Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell star. Talk about pedigree!
Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corps medic Larry “Doc” Shepherd re-unites with his old buddies, ex-Marine Sal Nealon and Reverend Richard Mueller, to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War.
The novel is a sequel to Poniscan’s own The Last Detail, which was famously adapted 1973 by director Hal Ashby. Linklater and Poniscan have opted to change the character names for the film version of Last Flag Flying, turning it into more of a spiritual sequel than a direct one. Still, it’s not hard to watch the trailer above and picture Cranston, Fishburne, and Carell in the roles previously inhabited by Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid (respectively).
Whatever their reasoning for altering the names, this looks great. Furthermore, it’s probably in the film’s best interests that it isn’t laid out as a decades-later “The Last Detail 2”. Instead, this can simply stand on its own as a film similar in plot (and theme?), while also allowing Linklater and the actors to do their own thing. The film is currently set to premiere at the New York Film Festival next month, ahead of a limited release in November.
Last Flag Flying is an adaptation of the novel by Darryl Ponsican. It is directed by Richard Linklater, from a screenplay by Darryl Ponsican and Richard Linklater. The picture is produced by Ginger Sledge and John Sloss. The film stars Steve Carell as ‘Larry “Doc” Shepherd’, Bryan Cranston as ‘Sal Nealon’, Laurence Fishburne as ‘Revered Richard Mueller’, Yul Vasquez as ‘Colonal Willits’, Samuel Davis as ‘Larry Shepherd Jr.’, Kate Easton as ‘Jackie’, Tammy Tsai as ‘Irene’, Richard Robichaux as ‘Anorak’, and Lee Harrington as ‘Jamie’.
Last Flag Flying arrives in theaters on November 3rd, 2017.
